But there’s one other guaranteed shock-maker in the theater these days. That’s what happens when a particular, implicit covenant between theatermakers and theatergoers — one that exists even to this day — is violated. I mean the promise that no matter what’s presented onstage, you’ll be let off the hook at the end with some sort of reassurance or release, a sense of redemption or catharsis. When that release is denied — at least when it’s denied by artists in full control of their powers — audiences inevitably get angry.

– Ben Brantley, chief theater critic, New York Times